Michigan State Basketball: Positives and negatives from WMU win

Negatives

There were plenty of positives but the negatives were also glaring for the Spartans.

• Slow start: For the third straight game, Michigan State started incredibly slowly and let Western Michigan hang around for far too long. This was a theme for the Spartans at one point last season and they got it corrected.
• Playing down to opponents: Just like against Detroit Mercy, Michigan State let Western Michigan hang around for far too long. This is a team that Michigan State needed to put away by halftime but instead it was a four-point game.
• Defense lacking focus at times: Again, just like what happened against Mercy, Western Michigan was able to drive to the rack and score on slashes and easy layups throughout the game. Eventually, the Spartans locked Western down, but this lack of focus early in games on the defensive end is keeping this team from being elite on that end of the floor.
• Aaron Henry’s 3-point shot: It seems like there’s a lack of confidence in Aaron Henry’s shot that he may be thinking too much about. When he gets open threes, he hesitates. When he eventually shoots, it just looks off. Right now, he has no confidence in that deep shot as he went 0-for-4 on Sunday.
• Rebounding: In the first half, Michigan State was getting out-rebounded by a smaller and less athletic Western team. The Spartans eventually took the advantage and out-rebounded the Broncos 36-32. Still, not a great feeling about the team’s rebounding.
• Sloppy turnovers: Michigan State finished with only 11 turnovers all game which is low for the Spartans, but there was a stretch where they had five in about three minutes. That let Western get back into the game when MSU was up 11 and that can’t happen against better teams.

What did you think about the Spartans’ win over Western?